Re: [aroid-l] A titanum

----- Original Message -----
From: Harry Witmore <harrywitmore@witmore.net>
To: Aroid-L <aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 7:32 PM
Subject: [aroid-l] A titanum
Dear Harry,
I saw where Wilbert had replied, and he is correct re: not storing the tuber
in soil and slightly moist ( he IS Lord Phallus, after all! :--)>) but I
just thought I`d like to toss around and talk about the reason for keeping
this and some other Amorphophallus species from drying out completely.
This species grows in rain forest where VERY seldom if ever it would be dry
enough to induce dormancy, so it is presumably not adapted to withstand any
prolonged period of drought, or in the case when in cultivation being stored
dry. If you can provide year-long warmth, you may not even want or need
to provide a dormant period, as long as you can provide heat, moisture and
light, let it grow! I have experienced a similar thing with the genus
Dracontium, some Amazonian species such as D. spruceanum will not go dormant
when kept wet and warm, others that grow in a seasonal climate (such as D.
asperum from Trinidad, where there is a wet and a dry season) do go dormant
if allowed to dry off in the cool months.
Speaking of Dracontiums, I just
had a plant of D. spruceanum bloom, what a marvel of nature! It has a
huge, boat-shaped spathe about 16 inches long and twisted at the tip carried
on a peduncle as tall as the petiole, in this case about 4 ft. tall, the
spathe is mainly purple-black, but when opened the lower interior portion of
the spathe for say 5 " and which is not visible on the exterior, is colored
a
transparent white/cream, it resembles a cream 'sun-burst', and is said to
provide a light-trap to keep flies buzzing around inside the spathe at the
height of the spadix. It is events like this in my plant-growing moments
that make me estatic that I choose growing Aroids as ONE of my hobbies.
Good growing,
Julius Boos
WPB, Florida
>>I just received a small Amorph titanum tuber from a generous friend. What
I
want to know is, how should I store it during it's dormancy. I normally
store all my tubers out of soil, but as you can imagine I'd like for this
one to grow well and not become a raisin.
I don't have any experience with this particular Amorph. I could do it most
any way so I would like to hear from those of you that have started with a
small one like this.
Anyway, it's been way too quiet here.
Harry Witmore
Cloud Jungle Epiphytes
Cloud Jungle Art
Epiphytes.org